Presently there exist gaming systems including a cooperative group gaming apparatus that allows a plurality of players to contribute, participate and share in a group reward when at least one participating player obtains a recognised winning combination on a gaming machine. Such an invention is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,162 to Weiss which involves a plurality of conventional gaming machines all operatively coupled to at least one controller and one or more communal displays. Each machine includes individual play apparatus that is adapted to permit a player to participate in a cooperative group play by contributing a wager to a communal jackpot. The communal wages are communicated from the gaming machines to the controller which controls the communal jackpot value displayed on at least one of the communal displays. When at least one player in the community achieves a recognised winning outcome, all participating players win a portion of the communal jackpot thereby promoting a cooperative gaming experience which provides camaraderie among players both when wagering and winning.
A loyalty based system is disclosed in International Patent Application No WO 01/83062 to the present applicant. A gaming machine awards loyalty points to players playing a particular game out of two different games. The first game, which is a base game, is provided by the slot machine game as a stand alone function with no dependence upon a supporting communications network. The second game is linked to a plurality of networked machines whereby control of the second game is provided by a central game controller and a communications network is controlled by a network controller. The first game is available to all players and the second enhanced game mode is made available to players who have reached a predetermined threshold of loyalty points.
The prior art documents do not disclose a gaming system that allows players to be recognised as individuals and/or be recognised as members of a syndicate that have a common interest or goal and share common assets to be exchanged among the syndicate members. Neither do the documents disclose a system to enable players to use one or more gaming machines simultaneously, preferably through the use of a physical token. The present invention enable groups of players in a syndicate to interact competitively or cooperatively and to be able to communicate through the system. Such communications enable players to share experiences privately of their game play or any other relevant gaming matter involving the syndicate. Furthermore, the prior art documents do not disclose a system that enables tracking of player locations and monitoring the interactions of each of the players via an identity code, through a central processor to enable efficient accounting and recordal of the players in the system.